San Diego Classic Film Calendar

Saturday, October 4, 2014

2015 TCM Classic Film Festival Pool

With the announcement this week of the dates of the 2015 TCM Classic Film Festival (TCMFF), March 25-29, 2015, there has been a lot of excitement about the upcoming Festival. At this point, there isn't much to go on, just the dates, hotels, a vague date for the ticket sale (Nov. 2014), and most importantly the theme for the 2015 TCMFF, History According to Hollywood.At this point in the game, not a lot of go on, but the theme, History According to Hollywood, is enough to start speculating on, and I figure why not make a game out of it. Thus, I present the 2015 TCMFF Pool. Just pick 10 films you think they will be showing at the Festival. As a prize, I would like to offer a bottle of Humphrey Bogart Gin, but since that is not yet available, I can't say for sure that will happen. Humphrey Bogart Gin is scheduled to go on sale later this year. I'm going to say, if I can lay my hands on a bottle for less than $200, that will be the prize. If not, it will be something else, but it will be good.

As an alternate for people who do not drink, I am offering a signed and numbered (6/40) print from artist, Jim Silke, of Myrna Loy.

Official rulesI would like to restrict this to people who plan to attend the 2015 TCMFF, so the prize can be presented at the Festival. If the winning entry cannot attend for some reason I will make arrangements to get the prize to the winner some other way, but bear in mind that you can't really ship liquids or alcohol. To enter, you must post a comment to this blog entry, stating your 10 films. All entries must be posted by 12 am November 1 (Midnight, Halloween night), US Pacific time or whenever TCM makes the first announcement containing titles of films to be shown at the TCMFF, whichever comes later:

If TCM announces film titles before the end of October, entries must be posted by Midnight Halloween (any films revealed at this time considered a gimme and will be accepted)

If TCM announces film titles after the end of October, entries must be posted before this announcement is made. I will use my discretion on whether or not to allow entries made on the same day as the announcement

Any entries that contain more than 10 films will be considered invalid. Any entries that contain less than 10 films will be considered valid. In either case, I will attempt to contact the entrant to correct the mistake. No promises here. Only one entry per person. Films do not need to be related to the History According to Hollywood theme. If the film has been remade and you specify the year, only the version from that year counts. For remakes with different titles, the title specified is the one that counts. The winner will be the entry with the most correct films.

I will keep a running tab of who is leading in the pool. Normally, TCM announces just a handful of films at about the time tickets go on sale. Then announce more films over subsequent months, until the final schedule is announced in the few weeks before TCMFF. Once the final schedule is announced, the winner can be determined.

My entry is given below. Yes, I am playing too. If I win, I'm drinking the gin. In the case of a tie, I will exclude myself if I am involved in the tie and the winner among the tied entries will be the first posted tied entry.

Eric, Thanks for jumping in. We share a few of the same pics. Great minds think alike, eh?. I'd love to see Shadow of a Doubt. Saw it once on the big screen back in the 80s. It would be a treat to see it again. That scene where Joseph Cotten turns to the audience and says, "Are they?" It's just so great when his face is 20 feet tall.

I think ewalvin is pretty spot on considering the history theme of the festival. Here's Mine:1. The Sound of Music, 2. History of the World Part I, 3. The Harvey Girls, 4. The Great Dictator, 5. Love Me or Leave Me, 6. Waterloo Bridge (1940), 7. Lawrence of Arabia, 8. The Manchurian Candidate, 9. The Great Race, 10. Wings

Thus, I am shutting down the pool as mentioned in the rules. I'll leave the commenting turned on just in case anyone wants to play along for fun. But only posts which appear with a timestamp before this comment will be eligible for the prizes.

I haven't forgot about this. When they announced the first four films in November, I was the only one who got any and posting a running total seemed kind of stupid. Now that a fifth film has been added, it seems a bit more like a horse race. I'm still winning, but there are close seconds:

Chris (Me) – 2 (Spartacus, The Sound of Music)

ewalvin – 1 (The Sound of Music)

OldMovieSnobs – 1 (The Sound of Music)

NICOLER – 0 (Don't worry, the next announcement is bound to add add several more to the list).

Still, no word on Humphrey Bogart Gin. I have searched online and most of what I am finding is very old news stories, saying it was coming in Fall 2014. Their Twitter feeds and Facebook page seem to be duplicate info, generic stuff stuff about gin, but nothing about hey, it's here now. I did find a reference to it being sold in Portugal and Spain, but nothing since. I'm guessing they underproduced, and don't have sufficient quantities to sell in the US. If this changes, I'll post something here. For the time being that means that the prize will be the Myrna Loy print above, which is easier if I have to mail it. If anything changes, I will post here.

Chris (Me) – 3 (History of the World Part 1, Lawrence of Arabia, The Sound of Music)

ewalvin – 3 (History of the World Part 1, The Sound of Music, Young Mr. Lincoln)

OldMovieSnobs – 3 (History of the World Part 1, Lawrence of Arabia,The Sound of Music)

Tie breaking rules go into effect. Since I am involved in the tie, I am excluding myself. The winner among the remaining tied entries is the first one posted, which would be, drum roll please:

ewalvin – Congratulations, Eric.

I'm going to make one more attempt to find the Humphrey Bogart Gin, but no promises. I saw a news item that they were going to be releasing it at some event In Las Vegas in March, which means I probably won't be able to find it in San Diego, but I am going to make one more attempt.

Wow! Thanks, Chris! I guess none of us were very good at this, but it looks like a great schedule nonetheless. Don't worry about the gin -- I'm a tee-totaler anyway. The Myrna Loy print looks great. I really just played for the fun of it. Looking forward to another terrific Festival! -- Eric

Sorry for the delay getting back to you. I checked over the weekend and the print is just big enough to not want to fit in a carryon-size suitcase (at least, not without dinging up the corners). I think it would be best to mail the print to you. I just tried guessing at your email and sent an email to you based on what I thought your address might be from the userid. The message didn't bounce at least not right away, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything. If you get that message, please send me your mailing address. If you are on Twitter, you could try sending me a direct message with your mailing address. I am @ChrisSturhann on Twitter.

If none of those work, we'll figure out something else in the next couple of days.